After battling grandiose villains and teaming up with other superheroes, it’s back to basics for Iron Man in the third instalment of the multi-million-dollar franchise featuring Robert Downey Jr.
We do live in an unsafe world, that’s the truth
Iron Man 3 has Downey reprising his role of superhero industrialist Tony Stark from the first two films as well as The Avengers.
Collectively, the three films have made about €2 billion at the global box office in five years.
Continuing Stark’s storyline from both sets of Marvel franchises, Iron Man 3 centres around evil extremist The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) who is hell-bent on destroying the US.
When The Mandarin destroys Stark’s personal world as well as his superhero suit, Stark must begin from scratch, rebuilding his suit, freeing the woman he loves and saving the country.
Bombs go off in crowds of people and buildings are destroyed in the film that the cast says reflects real-life threats.
“We do live in an unsafe world, that’s the truth,” Gwyneth Paltrow, playing Downey’s love interest Pepper Potts, told reporters at a news conference.
“I don’t think there is anything wrong with presenting that idea. We can’t lie to our children and pretend the world is perfect.”
Marvel’s first self-financed film, 2008’s Iron Man, became a global phenomenon, transformed Downey into a superstar and set off a chain of action movies that spawned other franchises, culminating in last year’s crossover film, The Avengers.
In 2009 Walt Disney Co. bought Marvel Entertainment Inc. for $4 billion, and Iron Man 3 is Disney’s first release in the franchise.
In a first, Iron Man 3 teamed with China-based DMG Entertainment and shot additional scenes that will run only in the Chinese version of the film, a nod to the growing importance of the Chinese movie market.
The cast and film-makers have kept quiet on details of the extra scenes. But director Shane Black, who also co-wrote the script, said he was thrilled to work with “one of the single fastest-emerging box-office environments”.
Promotionally Downey has done a two-week global tour for the film by making stops in Korea, Beijing, Moscow, Munich, Paris and London.
Downey said the storyline took other risks, including 11-year-old actor Ty Simpkins playing Stark’s sidekick – the first time a child has been prominently featured in the Iron Man films.
“(Black’s) idea of a superhero running into a little kid in heartland America wound up being a wise choice, and a calculated risk,” said Downey.